Kevin Dinsdale's Armchair World Cup: A great tournament is settled by a superb goal

Chronicle head of sport Kevin Dinsdale gives his views on the World Cup final between Germany and Argentina

Manuel Neuer of Germany lifts the World Cup trophy with his team after defeating Argentina 1-0 in extra time

A great tournament, won by the best team and settled by a superb goal. Can you ask for anything more?

And I didn’t mind being proved wrong.

Despite having tipped Argentina to win the tournament before it kicked off, I wasn’t disappointed that the Albiceleste failed to lift the trophy.

And not just because it meant my mate Sepp ‘Buffoon’ Blatter couldn’t back slap his mates from South America the end of the final.

(In fact, did you see that he gave Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff the job of handing over the trophy to Germany skipper Philipp Lahm rather than doing it himself, as is the norm).

No, I was more than happy to see Germany win because they had been the best team on show across the tournament as a whole and deserved their success for seeing off hosts Brazil and their South American neighbours in their own backyard in their last two ties.

It could’ve been different of course, as Argentina spurned three great chances to score last night when the game was goalless, while Joachim Low’s men had fewer opportunities as clear-cut but managed to convert one of their more difficult ones.

The first gilt-edged Argentina opening arrived after 20 minutes when a sloppy header back to his own goal by Toni Kroos sent Gonzalo Higuain through with only Manuel Neuer to beat.

The Napoli forward screwed his shot horribly wide - and we should all be thankful that he did.

An early goal for Alejandro Sabella’s side would’ve allowed them to sit back and turn the game into one of attack versus defence.

Instead, we got a pretty open and entertaining affair as Messi and Co had to continue to search for the breakthrough.

Joachim Low’s men had squandered a superb chance of their own on the stroke of half time as defender Benedikt Howedes headed the ball against the post from close range following a corner.

Germany had enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the opening 45 minutes and that pattern continued as the game progressed.

But it was the South Americans who had the best chances only for Lionel Messi and substitute Rodrigo Palacio both to shoot wide in the second half of normal time and first period of extra time respectively.

Despite not creating the best openings, the Nationalmannschaft - with Bastian Schweinsteiger immense in midfield - always had that look of a side who would not lose the game.

Sergio Aguero and Javier Mascherano were both lucky to escape red cards as Germany turned the screw.

And the killer blow duly arrived with seven minutes left in extra time, Chelsea’s Andre Schurrle sprinting down the left flank before delivering a cross for Mario Gotze to control on his chest and then steer the ball on the volley past a helpless Sergio Romero in the Argentina goal.

It was a strike worthy of winning any tournament and provided a fitting end to a memorable Brazil 2014.

Coaches and managers the world over may bemoan the lack of top defenders and brilliant back-line play during the competition but, from a fan’s point of view, a World Cup in which forwards were on top and the goals flowed in what were generally open, attacking games, is the one I would want every time.

Brazil 2014 delivered that and will consequently be remembered as a fine tournament, packed with entertainment.

Compared with the dull events at South Africa four years ago, it was phenomenal.

Let’s hope for the same again at Russia 2018.

Five things I learned from the World Cup final

The ‘Who’s best, Maradona or Messi?’ debate will rage on. Messi failed to emulate fellow Argentinian great by winning the World Cup, so for many Maradona will remain the better player.

Pressure can get to anyone. Toni Kroos, excellent in the semi-final and in the tournament generally, struggled to find a team-mate with most of his passes last night, while Lionel Messi, the world’s best player, missed the sort of chance he has put away hundreds of times in his career.

Sami Khedira must be the unluckiest player at Brazil 2014. After missing most of the season just ended through injury and only just regaining fitness in time to make the tournament, he was ruled out of last night’s showpiece decider after getting hurt in the pre-match warm-up.

The final goals tally at Brazil 2014 was 171 from the 64 matches - an average of 2.67 per game.

Mario Gotze is the first substitute to score a winning goal in a World Cup final.

THE THIRD-PLACE PLAY-OFF

On Saturday, Holland completed Brazil’s humiliation and consigned to history the need for opponents to approach games against the Selecao gripped by fear.

Having been hammered 7-1 by Germany in the semi-final, guaranteeing that the hosts would miss the end of their own party, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men made an abject attempt to redeem themselves as they were easily beaten 3-0 by the Dutch.

And it was hardly surprising. A glance at the team sheet beforehand revealed that David Luiz would again be deployed as an alleged central defender, despite his laughable display in the semi-final. It also showed that Scolari either didn’t know who was to blame for the Germany defeat or didn’t have the bottle to leave those most responsible out.

From the moment Luiz set up Holland’s second goal with a ridiculous header back into the middle of his own box, rather than putting the ball out for a corner, the hosts never looked like staging a comeback.

Holland controlled the game and completed their rout with a late Georginio Wijnaldum strike - adding to Robin van Persie’s early penalty and Daley Blind’s Luiz-assisted shot - to deservedly take third place and ensure that Louis van Gaal left his post as the only Holland coach to return from a World Cup without having lost in open play, the Oranje having been eliminated on penalties.

Without their best player, Neymar, in their last two fixtures, Scolari’s squad was exposed as one littered with overrated players, many of whom wouldn’t have won a cap in some previous World Cup campaigns, never mind been picked to go to the finals.

And Scolari’s credentials as a coach have taken a battering - not only for his tactics, but also his choice of squad, having gone mostly for artisans rather than artists and pinning all of his creative hopes on Chelsea’s Oscar and the aforementioned Neymar.

Sadly for them, their legacy from this tournament will be that the rest of the world, for the foreseeable future, will no longer look upon Brazil’s football team as being virtually invincible.

Respect will remain, of course, but the fear factor will have disappeared for any team who think they’re competent at international level.

And if you ask me, that’s not a bad thing. Brazil’s time has come and gone - as has Spain’s it appears after their flop at the tournament - leaving the way open for Germany to fill the void as the dominant nation.

Five questions to ponder after the third-place play-off

If you were the Paris-Saint Germain and had just agreed a deal worth up to £50m to buy David Luiz from Chelsea, would you be checking the returns policy with the item you’ve purchased yet to be delivered?

If you were the manager of a club with unlimited funds at your disposal, how many members of the Brazil squad would you buy?

How does refereeing every week in a minor North African league qualify you to take charge of games at the World Cup?

Will David Luiz ever play at centre-back again for Brazil?

Why do so many people think Brazil are one of the world’s best international teams?

COMMENTATORS’ CORNER

It’s the end of the tournament, so the time has come to catch up with the standings in my worst commentator and pundit competitions.

There have been some pretty poor efforts in this tournament, but I don’t think it’ll come as a surprise that the truly awful ITV combination of Clive Tydesley and Andy Townsend are the winners of their respective categories.

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